I was visiting my parents in Belguim & I did a bus trip to Amsterdam (leave at 5am get back at 10pm). Earlier in the week I was going through boxes of stuff from my youth & found some old mixtapes from about 1988-89 & my trusty walkman covered in stickers (that were holding the battery cover & one of the hinges together after being dropped while skating). Anyway, I walked around Amsterdam listening to my old mixtapes of songs that at one time had met so much & inspired me. I was people watching & walking the winding streets of a thriving & bustling city but damn, I began feeling so lonely & isolated, I don't think I had said a word to anybody the entire time I was there.

I ended up at the Van Gogh museum and got some pamphlets to learn more about the paintings & what was going on in his life when he had painted them etc. Soon after I ended up in front of "Almond Blossoms". I'm not sure what caught my eye, but I liked it immediately. I looked at the brochure & saw that Van Gogh's brother (who he was very close with) had just given birth to a son & he was named after him & he felt such honor & pride & it had filled him with such joy that after hearing the news he made this painting to try to capture/represent the hope & awakening he felt at the time. He asked that it be placed near/above the nephew's crib so that he could look up & see "the hope in the branches & blossoms". My sister (who I was enstranged with at the time) had also just recently given birth to her second child, a son. As I was in front of the painting Rites Of Spring "All Through A Life" came on & for some reason, a couple of tears just started trickling down my face. I realized that song had also instilled a sense of hope & empowerment in a younger me. Anyway, I don't think I had ever been moved to tears looking a painting or listening to a song, but there I was in a fucking museum listen to fucking emo & fucking crying, I think a 16 year old me would have laughed, but it felt ok to current me.

Thanks so much to Dischord, and Amy, who went to the effort of writing a little note expressing thanks for me purchasing the record! I Thank you, it meant a lot to me, no other record label would have such initiative!!!!

So maybe a local DC fan can help answer this question. Where were the jacket photos of the band near the grafittied pool taken? I live and DC now and want to turn that place into a pilgrimage site for one of the best PUNK bands ever.

I waited way to long to finally buy this album. But buying it directly from Dischord was all I’ve ever wanted from buying music. Not only did I get to directly support the label, but both the album and the shipping were dirty cheap, and you get a high quality digital copy right away as well. So while I’m waiting for the actual record to show up, I can listen to it on my computer and ipod right away. It also solves the problem of buying vinyl and wanting to listen to it, say, on my way to work. All I’ve ever wanted. Thanks Dischord!

Why are there no comments.? I am far behind in this present digital age; yet can still hear these songs play in my head when I think of them, For Want Of and Persistent Vision. I love the sound and energy. More comments in the future. Take a chance and just listen to the songs!